Mechanic earns praise from A.J. Foyt

Even if you don't know the name George Bignotti you've seen his cars and heard of his most famous driver: A.J. Foyt.

Auto racing lost one of the all-time great mechanics last week when Bignotti died at his adopted home in Las Vegas at 97.

"I'd say he was one of the greatest mechanics that was ever at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway," Foyt said. "We had such a close relationship, and even though I went on my merry way, we were still close up to his death."

Bignotti, whose record shows 85 IndyCar victories, including seven Indianapolis 500 wins with five different drivers, including Foyt, Indy's first four-time winner. The other drivers who visited victory lane with Bignotti-tuned cars were Graham Hill ('66), Indy's second four-time winner Al Unser (who won with Bignotti in '70 and '71), Gordon Johncock ('73) and Tom Sneva ('83).

Foyt signed with Bignotti's Bowes Seal Fast team in 1960, posted his first of a record 67 victories, and went on to win the national championship that year.

"He was such a great mechanic and he had such fast race cars and I was just a snot-nosed kid coming up," said Foyt, "Sometimes he would get mad at me, 'You're gonna kill yourself! Quit being so wild in that damn thing!''' Foyt recalled, laughing at the memory.

Foyt credited Bignotti with teaching him to enjoy salads-quite a feat considering Foyt was (and is) a diehard meat-and-potatoes man.

Bignotti and Foyt teamed up for six seasons, won 32 races including two Indianapolis 500s ('61 and '64), four national championships, and finished second in the two years they didn't win. In 1964, they won 10 out of 13 races for a winning percentage of 77 percent which has never been matched to this day. They would separate at the end of the 1965 season when Foyt formed his own team.

"We had a lot of arguments up and down but they weren't arguments like people think," Foyt said. "We both respected each other a whole lot."